


In My Hands

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Ten H/C Bingo Card [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 09:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19248205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: It's reckless and dangerous and possibly borderline insane, but if it gets Stark through the night, then he will consider it a success. A hole in his patient's chest and the kind of desperation that only comes from life-or-death realities and Yinsen knows what it's like to operate under pressure, but this? This is beyond his comprehension. It's impossible. It's a disaster waiting to happen. There's no way Stark is going to survive, no matter what they think.In which Ho Yinsen saves Tony Stark's life.





	In My Hands

It's more than Yinsen ever thought would happen. He isn't really equipped to deal with this kind of medical emergency out here, not by a long shot. But if Stark is everything he seemed to be last time their paths crossed, then he can hardly be blamed for doing everything in his power to try to save the man. It's reckless and dangerous and possibly borderline insane, but if it gets Stark through the night, then he will consider it a success. A hole in his patient's chest and the kind of desperation that only comes from life-or-death realities and Yinsen knows what it's like to operate under pressure, but this? This is beyond his comprehension. It's impossible. It's a disaster waiting to happen. There's no way Stark is going to survive, no matter what they think.

Still. If it keeps Yinsen alive a little longer -- long enough to figure out what his attack strategy is -- then it's worth it for him. Worth it for both of them if by some miracle Stark lives more than a few hours after surgery.

By some miracle, Stark lives more than a few hours after surgery. He stares at the car battery and blinks up at Yinsen and looks for all the world like a lost child rather than the billionaire weapons manufacturer he is. Stark takes in everything Yinsen says with a kind of good grace he hadn't expected and the kind of comprehension that he had. The man always was smarter than people gave him credit for.

Yinsen reassesses that assertion when Stark refuses on principle to build weapons for their captors. Not so smart after all, perhaps.

Stark holds the car battery with the kind of desperation that only a man that knows his life is on the line can hold. He constantly checks for it out of the corner of his eye, like if he takes his eyes off of it for more than an instant, it will disappear and leave him with nothing. It's a sobering thought. In surgery, Yinsen hadn't thought of what might happen is Stark survived. He hadn't expected him to.

Perhaps he should have given the thought more credence.

After the fourth or fifth time Stark comes back with soaking wet hair and a damp collar, things seem to change. Yinsen watches the cogs move in the man's head as he works through their options. The possibilities. The potential outcomes. Eventually, he seems to come to the same conclusion Yinsen himself had. Better to fall in line and wait for a way out than fight back and be killed or tortured.

It isn't easy, at first, to find their way around each other. Stark is too desperate, too holy, too high and mighty, too scared to tell Yinsen much more than the basics. But then, as he pours the palladium into the mold and as Stark builds the device for his chest and as they find their way around one another with the kind of care that only two mutually respecting scientists hold for one another, Stark seems to open up. Not trust Yinsen completely so much as understand that, here and now, they are the only one the other has, so they might as well make the most of it. It has to be enough.

It has to be enough.

So as their plan comes together, as Stark starts to give him directions while they move around each other in their makeshift lab, as backgammon starts to become something to enjoy rather than something to pass the time, Yinsen starts to wonder. Starts to wonder if he made the right call, saving Stark the way he did. Did he damn him just as much as he saved him? Starts to wonder what the future holds for Stark with that thing in his chest. What kind of man will he become with all that potential in his body? Starts to wonder what happens if their plan doesn't go the way they want it to. Does he make sure Stark gets out or risk him in an attempt to save them both?

It's the last question that has the easiest answer. He has nothing left waiting for him at home. But Stark? Stark has a whole world he could change. It's enough to make up Yinsen's mind immediately.

If it comes down to Stark or him, there's no contest.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for H/C Bingo Round 10. Unbetaed. [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


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